Jill Downen has received numerous awards including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, the MacDowell Colony National Endowment for the Arts residency, and Cité International des Arts Residency in Paris. She has created site specific installations for museums such as American University Museum in Washington DC, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis Great Rivers Biennial and its 10th Anniversary exhibition, Place is the Space. Downen has been invited to lecture about her work extensively, including the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. and the Luce Irigaray Circle Philosophy Conference in New York. Her art has been reviewed in publications including Art in America, Sculpture Magazine, Art Papers, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The New York Times and Bad at Sports. She holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA as a Danforth Scholar from Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts - Washington University in St. Louis. Jill Downen is an assistant professor of sculpture at the Kansas City Art Institute.
Spine
2011
Plaster on paper
37 x 9 in (94 x 22.9 cm)
Breast Block
2012
White concrete
19 1/16 x 8 8/16 x 8 8/16 in (48.3 x 21.6 x 21.6 cm)
Window Women
2012/2017
Gypsum, polystyrene, and latex paint (49 elements)
60 x 60 x 20 15/16 in (152.4 x 152.4 x 53.3 cm)
Breast Block
2017
Gypsum, polystyrene, and acrylic paint
19 1/16 x 8 8/16 x 8 8/16 (48.3 x 21.6 x 21.6 cm)
White
2017
Acrylic on paper mounted on panel
12 x 12 in (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Untitled I (Here All Is Distance, There It Was Breath Series)
2019
Plaster and pigment
24 1/16 x 17 15/16 x 1 11/16 in (61 x 45.7 x 4.4 cm)
Plumb Line
2020
Solid brass and mason line
5 8/16 x 3 8/16 x 2 1/16 in (14 x 8.9 x 5.1 cm)
Les Briques Femelle
2021
Concrete, gold leaf, white gold leaf, and mixed media
6 7/16 x 2 8/16 x 2 8/16 in (16.5 x 6.4 x 6.4 cm)
Untitled II
2019
Plaster and pigment
24 x 18 x 1 3/4 in (60.96 x 45.72 x 4.45 cm)
Untitled III
2019
Plaster and pigment
24 x 18 x 1 in (60.96 x 45.72 x 2.54 cm)
Title
2024
Oil on canvas
12 x 12 in (20 x 20cm)
Title
2024
Oil on canvas
12 x 12 in (20 x 20cm)